


A boy’s best friend

by WonderSeeker



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Near Death Experiences, POV Sirius Black, Sirius Black Lives, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27117655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderSeeker/pseuds/WonderSeeker
Summary: Sirius Black wasn't quite dead yet when he fell through the veil of death. Not exactly. Now the beings that control Limbo have to figure out what to do with him and he has the decision of a lifetime to make. Or is it of a deathtime? Whatever, he needs to make a choice and quickly.*WORK IN PROGRESS* NOT ABANDONED, ESPORADIC UPDATES
Kudos: 1





	A boy’s best friend

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I actually wrote this a few months ago and never continue it . I decided to share it and write a little more of this story but I'm not sure how long it is going to be or when I'll be able to finish it. I do have the story in my head or at least the important scenes.  
> I hope you'll enjoy it!

Sirius Black opened his eyes to see nothing. Well, that was not accurate. He didn’t exactly open his eyes, Sirius couldn’t feel his eyes at all so he had no idea if they were open or not. Nonetheless, he became aware of his surroundings to see – or feel – nothing.

It wasn’t a blackness sort of nothing or even a whiteness thing, it was just indescribably empty. His consciousness – because not even his body was there – tried to find an explanation to what was happening to him and the only answer that he could come up with was that he was dead. Not a cheering notion by any means.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, an entity appeared around him. It was a strange sensation; the being was not in front of him or behind him or next to him, he could feel it everywhere at once.

“Sirius Black.” There was no voice or writing or any form of communication but somehow Sirius understood. “Your presence here is a problem for us.”

 _Us?_ He thought, confused. Even though he was used to causing trouble for other people, he hadn’t met anyone in that weird place just yet. How could he be inconveniencing someone already? That had to be a personal record.

“Yes, us, the rulers of the afterlife.”

 _Oh, that clears that up. I’ve just died, no big deal._ Sirius said to himself somewhat hysterically.

“You are not dead.”

 _Really?_ He didn’t exactly felt alive though, he was kind of missing some vital parts. Like a body.

“But you are not alive either.” Just like he thought; not alive. But how could he be not dead and not alive? “So, you are a problem. Everything that reaches Limbo is stripped of their mortal body and you were no exception. The issue is that your soul was very much alive during the process and is still tethered to the living realm. That shouldn’t happen.”

_Okay, excellent. Where do we go from here?_

“We came to a decision.”

 _Letting me return to my life?_ He hopefully asked thinking about Harry and Remus.

“No.”

_Oh._

“People can’t just go back to life, it’s against every law of nature. In the few cases that it actually happened there was powerful ritualistic magic involved, with a heavy cost, usually paid by willing or unwilling sacrifices. A life for a life, a soul for a soul.”

Yeah, he remembered reading about necromantic rituals. Disgusting stuff. However, that didn’t apply to this case. As they had already stablished, he was not dead therefore the price wouldn’t be another life…

“You understand the situation then. The question we need you to answer is, are you willing to pay the price for returning your soul to the mortal world?”

The offer was too good to be true. There had to be some sort of catch that Sirius wasn’t seeing. _What if I refuse? What other option do I have?_

“You’ll stay in Limbo indefinitely.”

He didn’t want that. He really didn’t want that. Sirius had to return to his godson and Remus, they needed him, is not as if they had many people to begin with. But at what price? _Can you tell me what the price is?_

“I can’t say that.”

Typical. _Can you at least swear that it won’t affect either Remus or Harry?_

“You’ll be the one paying the price, not them.”

Okay, that was a relief. Maybe it would be his magic. It would be an adjustment, but he thought he could handle it, as long as he was not alone.

“Do you accept?”

…

“I won’t ask again.”

_Yes! All right, I accept!_

And he was unconscious once again.

* * *

Sirius Black opened his eyes – for real this time – to see the world in not quite as many colors as usual. However, he didn’t notice this little problem, too distracted by the high amount of sensory input he was receiving once again. He had gotten used to the nothingness, hence the familiar surroundings of the mortal realm were proving to be overwhelming. Slowly, he began to savor the fresh air, relishing the smells that filled his nose, watching the clouds high above in the sky, enjoying the feeling of the grass below him.

The newly resurrected soul stayed where he was for a while, processing everything that he could remember. The moments spend at the strange place – limbo – were gradually slipping away. He was painfully aware that he had been gifted another chance at life and he didn’t intend to waste it. His mind felt clearer than before his unplanned trip through the veil; sharper than it had been for years. Azkaban had surely ruined him, physically, mentally and morally. Now that he was healthy, it was time to be the man he had always wanted to be.

Suddenly, Sirius heard voices coming from behind him. He couldn’t understand what they were saying but he could sense the underlying tension and he didn’t like it one bit. It sounded like the speakers were stopping themselves from either shouting or crying. Curious, he got up and tried to walk towards the voices. Only tried, because he soon was laying on the grass again, extremely confused.

Apparently, he had four legs instead of the two he was expecting. That shouldn’t have been such a surprise for a man that spend half his time as a dog; nonetheless, what he was experiencing was nowhere near the same as being Padfoot. He examined his paws and, yes, they seemed like they belong to a dog, but they were certainly different. It was hard to pinpoint exactly how.

He stood for a second time, unrelenting, and marched steadily forward. Now that he was paying attention, he could feel the differences regarding his body. For starter, he definitely wasn’t an animagus. The magic that allowed him to change back to his human form wasn’t there. He couldn’t tell if he was a magical dog or a muggle dog, but he was undeniably a dog. Or maybe some other sort of canine but he was betting on dog.

Sirius looked up to find a well-illuminated cottage, standing out in the increasing darkness of the evening. That was the only likely source of the voices, since there were no other houses he could see around the area, but he couldn’t hear them anymore. He sniffed around the house, identifying some faintly familiar scents and stopping to look through a window that was almost at floor-level, probably belonging to a basement. The room was empty, but weirdly the light was on. He was about to turn around and keep investigating elsewhere when a soft whimpering sound reached him.

His ears pricked up and he cocked his head slightly to the left, listening attentively. There it was again, it sounded like a little kid was crying inside that room, somewhere he wasn’t able to see from his position. Sirius examined the window thoughtfully, wondering if he could even fit. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going inside.

The lock was easy to break, even for his dog mouth and paws. Surprisingly, Sirius went through the narrow opening without much need for contortion. That told him that he was really small, something to consider later.

He fell down with a loud noise and startled the person inside. It was a boy, around five years old, looking extremely sick and scared out of his mind. Sirius less than graceful entrance didn’t help the matters at all, and he had enough time to think _maybe entering a stranger’s home isn’t the best idea_ before the kid screamed and darted to the opposite wall. There was nowhere to run or hide though, so he just stood there, slowly slipping downwards, trembling and repeating the same plea over and over again.

“Please, please, don’t hurt me, please!”

Sirius was alarmed but didn’t know what to do. He didn’t understand why the boy was locked in there, had his parents done that to him? He was totally naked, thus he wasn’t just shivering due to his fear, and the only thing left in the room was a nest of old blankets in the corner the kid had fled. The boy reminded him of someone dear to him, his scent faintly familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly of whom. _Maybe he is the son of someone I know..._ he wondered, puzzled and frustrated at his inability to recall a name or a face. He didnt even know how long he had been away, this could be a kid who didn't even exist before his accidental stumble towards Limbos doorway!

Focusing on the problem at hand, Sirius decided to relegate the thoughts about his own unfortunate circumstances to the back of his mind. He wanted to help the kid to calm down but his presence wasn’t helping. However, getting out of the basement wasn’t an option; the door was locked and the window was too high. It didn’t seem like a clever idea to approach the child to convince him he was a friendly dog, he looked seconds away from a breakdown. So, he just let his instincts took over and started whining and crying, tail between his legs, whole body on the floor, ears pinned back and down. When it had no effect, the whining grew louder, covering his eyes with his paws in a remorseful gesture. He had been accused of being dramatic more times that he could count, but in this case, a little bit of drama was just what they needed.

Finally, the kid shut up and looked at him. He noticed that the animal hadn’t made any move to attack him and that he was crying just like him. The boy’s demeanor changed abruptly, staring at him with wide open eyes. He approached him slowly, hand extended to touch his head, wincing slightly at any movement the dog made. When he reached Sirius, the kid crouched next to him and gently run his fingers through his thick fur.

“You are a nice doggy, aren’t you? I’m sorry for making you sad.” Sirius whined a little more, showing him he was no threat. “I’m really really sorry, you just scared me a lot.” The kid continued to pet him in silence while Sirius snuggled a little closer. He was beginning to relax when the kid trembled and gasped in pain, pulling his knees to his chest. He was soon sobbing even stronger than before and then started mumbling “you need to leave, I’m dangerous, I’m going to hurt you. I don’t want to, please, you need to leave, you are just a puppy!”

Sirius couldn’t understand, he wanted to help the boy who was obviously in so much pain; why was no one else helping him? _Why is he here all alone?_ He asked himself. _What kind of people lock their kid in a basement? Well, beside mother, I wouldn’t put it past her._ He was sure there were other people around, what he had heard earlier were adults’ voices.

The little boy continued weeping in addition to doing his best to crawl the farthest away from the dog as possible. Despite the fact the poor kid could barely move, he had stated he was dangerous. Why? He reminded him of Remus, always afraid he was going to hurt the people around him, always calling himself a monster… Sirius did a double take. Could that be it? He looked at the sky, and although he wasn’t able to see much through the tiny window, he would have bet his wand that it was a full moon night. The kid was acting exactly like Remus before his transformations.

After that revelation, Sirius was unable to help himself from staring. They were both waiting, the kid getting more hysterical with every passing minute. The dog didn’t dare to approach him. And then, it began.

It was horrifying to watch; Sirius didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to witness it. It shouldn’t be happening to someone that small, it was heartbreaking and plain wrong.

When Sirius and his friends were young and they stayed with Remus during his monthly torment, they never intentionally saw the change. He didn’t want them to and they were not that morbidly curious. Listening to the screaming and howling from the other room was enough of a deterrent. However, there were times when it turned out to be unavoidable and that meant that Sirius was distressingly aware of everything that was taking place at that moment.

The transformation occurred in stages, nothing as smooth as the animagus change. First, he could hear the bones breaking with an audible snap and rearranging into new positions, tensing the skin and tearing it in places. Wincing at the noises, the dog tried not to look at the patches of damaged skin before all of it thickened and hardened into something much more resilient, the cause of the werewolf’s resistance to spells and one of the reasons they were so dangerous to humans. During the second step, the extremities changed into powerful legs, with huge wolf paws and sharp claws. The tufted tail emerged at the same time as the facial structure altered, developing a pointed muzzle and upright ears. Finally, the fur grew, painstakingly slow, covering the whole body with brownish-grey hair and hiding the remaining shifts still occurring below the surface. All throughout the metamorphosis, the boy/wolf kept howling in agony and violently trembling in an uncontrollable movement.

When it was all over, the wolf usually turned mad at the smell of blood covering him - his own blood – and started to rip himself apart. That was always the most delicate part of the night, the moment when the beast would make the most amount of damage to himself. Unless of course, there was something else there to distract him. Something preferable alive; a dog was definitely a better target than his own body.

As the werewolf turned to look at him, Sirius slowly realized that he was, at the moment, a really small puppy and the creature in front of him didn’t know him.

 _Uh-oh, this was definitely a bad idea…_ Was the only thing he could think while he backtracked quickly, as far as he could, slumping down in a submissive position and cursing his impulsiveness which once again got him in trouble.

The brownish wolf growled threateningly, glowering at him with his intelligent amber eyes. Sirius could see that it was young, not a fully matured animal, but in no way was he less dangerous for it. The gaze of the werewolf stayed focused on the smaller canine while baring his teeth and advancing towards him. Alarmed, the dog rolled over on his back, exposing his chest and belly to the beast. The wolf stood over the dog and stared directly at him, the edge of cruelty in the scrutiny making him shiver and flatten his ears against his head. He had learned at school several different characteristics to differentiate a werewolf from a natural wolf, but for Sirius it was always quite clear just by looking at his eyes; no regular animal would have that combination of cleverness and viciousness in them.

After several seconds of tension, the wolf seemed to accept his presence and backed off. Relief filled Sirius and he eagerly joined in when the other animal wanted to play, remembering the way he used to distract Moony with the help of their friends. 

As the night progressed, Sirius collected a number of bruises. The beast was nowhere near gentle with him; however, the man cursed the hardness and roughness of the surfaces of the basement that were causing most of his injuries. It was too cramped a place for two animals to move around, so of course they bumped into everything. The poor kid would be worse than him for sure.

He was tiring rapidly, barely keeping up with the energy of the bigger animal; even so, he couldn’t afford to show any weakness. He was begging for the sun to come up already when the werewolf tossed him harshly into the opposite wall and the dog painfully fell down, staying there. _This is it,_ Sirius thought pessimistically, _there’s no way I can move any more._ He was expecting the beast to become enraged and use him as something like a rag doll so he was surprised when he heard a dejected whine close to him. He felt a tentative nudge on his side but he couldn’t manage to respond.

Before he could understand what was happening, the werewolf was snuggled against him, providing comfortable warm to his sore body. _Pack, comfort, safe_ provided his canine mind as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

What seemed to be only seconds later, Sirius woke up with a loud groan. Was he ever going to sleep like a normal person again? Well, or a normal dog.

He was still in the same dreary basement but clearly hours had passed. There was daylight coming through the little window and even the half-open door. The kid was nowhere in sight. It was time to get out of there and figure out where the hell he was and how he was going to find his family.

He stood up with some difficulty and got outside. The warm of the sun had an invigorating effect on him, making him happier already. Sirius noticed something important that he had missed the previous night; a road at some distance from the house. Following it would be his best chance at reaching civilization and, eventually, his home.

He was resolutely walking towards it when a nagging thought interrupted him. _What about the boy?_

 _Not your problem!_ He viciously answered to himself. But he couldn’t just leave wondering. The memory of that little kid sobbing before the change would haunt him if he didn’t even check up on him… He huffed, exasperated with himself.

_So… Breaking and entering once again!_

**Author's Note:**

> Have you guess who the kid is yet?


End file.
